Warning-action for clock-movements.



APPLI CATION FILED lULY15|l9l6.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

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FUECED n4: uuxms PEYERS w). rnamuma. wumwommth UNITED STATES PATENTQFFICE.

WILLIAM J". SMITH, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB TO WATERBUBYCLOCK 00., OF WATEBBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

WARNING-ACTION FOR CLOCK-IJIGVEIVIENTS.

Application filed July 15, 1916.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. SMITH, a subject of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven andState of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inWarning Actions for Clock Movements and I do hereby declare thefollowing, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, andthe characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute partof this application, and represent, in-

Figure l a view in front elevation of a chime-clock constructed inaccordance with my invention. Fig. 2 an edge view thereof. Fig. 3 abroken view thereof in front elevation showing the warningaction in itswarning position. Fig. t a detached perspective view of the lockinglever. Fig. 5 a corresponding view of the warning-lever.

My invention relates to an improvement in warning-actions forclock-movements, applicable to either strike or chime-trains, the objectbeing to provide a simple and reliable warning-action, not liable toderangement and constructed with particular reference to the reductionof friction, to ease of adjustment, and to reducing to the minimum thedistance traveled by the locking-pin wheel a between its locked andwarned positions.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a warning-action forclock-movements, the said action having certain details of constructionand combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointedout in the claim.

As herein shown, I have applied my invention to a chime-train, though itis equally applicable to a strike-train.

My improvement is primarily characterized by having a warning-lever 2and a locking-lever 3 swung upon a screw-stud t common to them both and,as shown, mounted in the front movement-plate 5 in front of which bothof the said levers are located so as to be readily accessible. Thewarninglever 2 is made in one piece and comprises a warning-arm 6 and alifting-arm 7 the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Serial No. 109,517.

former having its upper end turned inward at a right angle to form awarning-finger 8 for co-action with a locking-pin 9 in a locking-pinWheel 10. The lifting-arm 7 of the said lever 2, is formed at its endwith a slot 11 for the reception of a coupling-pin 12 in the adjacentend of a lifting-lever 13 hung on a screw-stud M mounted in the saidmovement-plate 5. The said lever 13 carries a turn-back lever 15 hungupon a pivot 16 and having a lifting-finger l7 engaging with the loweredge of the lever 13 and with a depending cam-finger 18 successivelyengaged by the points 19 of a star or cam-wheel 20 mounted, as usual,upon the center-arbor 21.

The locking-lever 3, which is located in front of the warning-lever 2,aforesaid, has a locking-arm 22 the upper end of which is turned inwardat a right angle to form a locking-finger 23 also co-acting with thelocking-pin 9 aforesaid. A. notch 2 formed in the edge of themovement-plate 5 gives the fingers 8 and 23 access to the pin 9. Thetiming-arm 25 of the locking-lever 3 has its upper end turned inward ata right angle to form a finger 26 for co-action with the notched edge ofthe chime count-wheel 27. A spring 28 secured by a screw-stud 29 to theplate 5, engages with a pin 30 in the locking-arm 22 of the lever 3 andexerts a constant effort to keep the said finger 26 engaged with theedge of the chime countwheel 27.

The locking-wheel 1O aforesaid may form a part of any approved trainwhether it be a chime-train or a strike-train. As herein shown, thewheel 10 is mounted upon an arbor 31 carrying a lantern-pinion 32 meshedinto by a so called third wheel 33 which is mounted on an arbor 3acarrying at its forward end the chime-count-wheel 27. The said arbor 34:carries at its rear end a lantern pinion meshed into by a so called.second wheel 36 mounted on an arbor 37 carrying a lantern-pinion 38meshed into by the first or main wheel 39 which is mounted upon awinding-arbor 40 carrying a winding-drum il upon which a flat sheetmetalweight-ribbon 42 is coiled.

In applying my invention to a strike in stead of to a chime-train, thefinger 26 of the arm 25 of the lockinglever 3 would engage with theordinary count-wheel of a strike-train, or with a member of an ordinaryrack-and-snail strike-train. Of course it makes no difference whether myinvention is embodied in a weight-clock, as shown, or in a spring-drivenclock.

In the operation of my improvement, the chime-train is normally lockedor restrained from running, by the engagement of the locking-pin 9 withthe under face of the locking-finger 23 of the locking-arm 22, as shownin Fig. 1. Now as the chime-train turns the center-arbor 21, one of thepoints 19 of the cam or star-wheel 20 acts through the finger 18 of theturn-back lever 15, to lift the lifting-lever 13 which acts through thelifting-arm 7 of the warning-lever 2 to swing the same from left toright, causing the outer edge of the warning-arm 60f the lever 2 toengage with the inner edge of the finger 23 of the locking-arm 22 of thelocking-lever 3, whereby the same is also swung from left to rightagainst the tension of the spring 28, so as to cause the finger 23 to bedisengaged from the locking-pin 9. The chime-train is thus momentarilyreleased,

permitting the locking-pin wheel 10 to travel through that smallfractional part of one revolution necessary for the engagement of thepin 9 with the finger 80f the arm 6 of the warning-lever 2, the saidfinger having been brought into position for such engagement at the sametime that the arm 6 was pushing the arm 22 from left to right anddisengaging the finger 23 from the p n 9. The distance traveled by thelocking-pm 10 between the fingers 23 and 8 is very short compared withthe distance traveled in'the warning-actions of the prior art, due tothe fact that thefingers 23 and 8 are located very close together in myimproved action.

The parts are, now in the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3,which shows the warning position of the warning-action. In a short time,commonly two or three mlnutes after warning, so called, has taken place,the'action of the time-train turns the cam or star-wheel 20 far enoughto permit the turn-back lever 15 to drop off the point 19 p by which ithas just been raised. The spring 28 now asserts itself to sw1ng thewarning-lever 2 and the lockmg-lever 3 from right to left, whereby thefinger 8 of the arm 6 of the warning-lever 2 is disengaged from the pin9, leaving the lockmg- Jpin wheel 10 free to rotate, and whereby thefinger 26 of the timing-arm 25 of the look ing lever 3 drops back intothe'particular notch in the chime-count wheel 27 in which it was locatedatthe time the two levers were swung from left to right by the lastpreceding action of the cam or star-wheel 20. The finger 23 of the arm22 of the lever 3 is now brought into the path of the locking-pin 9, butbefore the pin 9 has been brought into position by the rotation of thewheel 10, to engage with the finger 23, the rotation of the chime-countwheel 27 has swung the locking-lever 3 from left to right for asuflicient distance to clear the finger 23 from the path of the pin 9which, in the rotation of the wheel 10, now moves between the fingers 8and 23. The chime-train continues to run in this manner, until the nextsucceeding notch in the wheel 27 registers with the finger 26 of the arm25 of the locking-lever 3 at which time the spring 28 asserts itself toswing both of the levers 2 and 3 from right to left, whereby the finger23 of the arm 22 of'the locking-lever 3 is returned into'the path of thepin 9 for'stopping and locking the train as clearly shown in Fig. 1.This cycle of movement is repeated as often as the lever 13 is raisedthrough the medium of the cam or starwheel 20, which is every quarterhour, in the chime-clock movement shown.

Inasmuch as the levers 2 and 3 are mounted upon the same center, thereis no sliding movement of the arm 6 upon the finger 23 of the arm 22 asthe levers 2 and 3 are moved from left to right, and from right to left,whereby all friction is eliminated so far as the operation of these twolevers upon each other is concerned, whereasin prior warning mechanismsin which these levers have been mounted upon separate centers,considerable friction is produced by the sliding of one upon the other.This frictionbeing eliminated by my invention, less strain is imposedupon the chime-train than heretofore. The action of my warning-action isalso freer and less liable to derangement. Also, under my invention thefingers 8 and 23 of the warning and locking-levers respectively, arebrought close together, and being located close to the edge of theclockmovement, are readily accessible for atten tion and adjustment,whereas heretofore these fingers have been separated and passed into theinterior of the movement through clearance openings formed in one of themovement-plates at a point so far distant from the edge thereof as tomake them inaccessible for adjustment and attentionin case of theirderangement.

I claim In a clock-movement, the combination with the frontmovement-plate thereof, of a locking-wheel located to the'rear of thesaid" plate and carrying a locking-pin, a two-armed locking-lever and atwo-armed .warning-lever located in front of the said plate and mountedupon the same center upon which they have independent oscillation, thelocking and Warning arms of the said levers co-acting With each otherand extending inward through the said plate in position to alternatelyengage With the said locking-pin, a lifting-lever eriodically operatedby the time-train of the movement and connected with the lifting-arm ofthe said Warning-lever, and means co-acting With the timing-arm of thelocking-lever for 10 determining the duration of the running of thelocking-Wheel.

WILLIAM J. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

